Palestinians held by Israel face torture and risk of death from curable diseases

Doctors concerned detainees with manageable medical conditions will die as thousands denied medical treatment

Israeli soldiers gather at the gate to the Sde Teiman military base as soldiers inside are questioned over detainee abuse. AP

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Palestinians held in Israeli detention camps and prisons have suffered torture and face the risk of dying from treatable diseases, according to a new UN report and a medical rights group.

The right group Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) said Palestinian detainees were denied routine medical treatment and prevented from going to public hospitals. Instead, they were being treated in primitive field hospitals where doctors cuffed patients to beds and prevented them from using the bathroom.

“There is no medical treatment … we are afraid people are going to die of curable diseases. Time has its effects – and the health of each Palestinian in Israeli detention is in danger,” Naji Abbas, director of the group's prisoners and detainees department, told The National.

“Someone who has blood pressure, or diabetes – they can manage for one or two months, but if they aren't getting treated for 10 months, this becomes dangerous.”

The conditions faced by Palestinian detainees in Israel was put under the spotlight this week when Israeli military police detained nine soldiers over the “severe abuse” of a man held at the Sde Teiman detention facility.

The man was taken to hospital with “life threatening” injuries to the chest and a “severe” injury to the anus, raising concerns of sexual abuse.

A report issued on Wednesday by the UN's human rights office said almost 10,000 Palestinians, including paramedics and hospital patients, have been detained in Israel since the deadly October 7 attack on southern Israel by militants from Gaza. Many were subjected to torture, including waterboarding and dog attacks, it said.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said his office had heard testimony of “appalling” acts including physical and sexual abuse, deprivation of food and water, and electric shocks and beatings.

Many people are being held in secret and have no access to lawyers, the report said.

The PHRI which is aware of the case at Sde Teiman, says the abused detainee was treated in hospital for only a few days before his whereabouts became unknown.

“We raise concern about the possibility that when the care in the hospital had ended, the victim was returned to Sde Teiman, where he was tortured,” spokesman Ran Yaron told The National. “We don't know where he is kept.”

The organisation has heard numerous accounts of abuse “exactly” like the case at Sde Teiman, Mr Abbas added.

On Tuesday, an Israeli advisory committee set up by the army published findings into conditions at the camp.

Detainees are blindfolded 24 hours a day, kept in sheds used to store Israeli tanks, and are only allowed to shower once a week, the committee said in findings published by Israel's Kan public broadcaster.

PHRI has repeatedly called on Israeli authorities to shut down the camp, where sick and wounded Palestinians are fed through straws and blindfolded at all times.

“Doctors are not identifying themselves in any way. In some cases, they have operated without anaesthesia. People are being cuffed and attached to the beds the entire time they are in the field hospital. They can't move or go to the toilet for days,” said Mr Abbas.

Medical treatment is only provided in “life-threatening” cases, he added, placing many Palestinians with chronic illnesses in danger.

PHRI doctors who participated in the autopsies of five Palestinian detainees have documented cases of medical negligence, he said, referring to the death of 21-year old Mohammed Sabar, held in Ofer Prison, who had a stomach condition and died in February, two hours after being taken to hospital.

“He didn't need treatment, just an adapted diet. His condition was well known, but it worsened. All he needed was an adapted diet, and he was not provided any care.”

The official Wafa news agency said Mr Sabar suffered from a congenital intestinal condition and died of “medical negligence”.

He is one of several detainees to have died of medical negligence, according to Palestinian authorities.

Earlier this month, freed detainee Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital, said Palestinians are denied medical treatment and are beaten by doctors and nurses.

According to the UN report, at least 53 Palestinians from the occupied territories have died in Israeli prisons since October.

PHRI told The National it is aware of at least 60 Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody in that time.

Last week, the organisation submitted one of several petitions to Israel's Supreme Court, warning of the spread of scabies. It said hundreds of detainees were currently infected as a result of medical negligence and the lack of clean clothing, among other factors.

“The disease is spreading to all prisons, and the prison service is doing nothing,” said Mr Abbas.

A detainee in Nafha prison received treatment for scabies after a court appeal, but was reinfected within a month because of overcrowding in their cell and no fresh clothing, Mr Abbas said.

All Palestinian prisoners' personal belongings, including spare clothing, were confiscated as part of new security measures imposed after the October 7 attacks.

“They're wearing the same clothes since October. We visited people in January, in the middle of winter, who were wearing the same short-sleeved clothes they had arrived in. They've left them with nothing,” Mr Abbas said.